Theory of Chemical Types : Electro-chemical Theory. 185 



that it is the force of circumstances, that it is a clear and con- 

 vincing experience, the production of chloracetic acid, which 

 has led me to admit that hydrogen and chlorine perform the 

 same function in certain compounds. I constructed my for- 

 mula according to pure chemical experience, my mind being 

 free and disengaged from every view of general theory. 



But to admit that chlorine may take the place of hydrogen 

 and perform the same function, was to separate oneself from 

 the chemists who would explain all the phaenomena of com- 

 binations by means of what is called the electro-chemical the- 

 ory. I understood it thus, and I found it necessary to explain 

 myself in a direct manner. Besides, how could we believe 

 that this consequence would have escaped the penetration of 

 M. Berzelius, when we see all the value he attaches to giving 

 an immediate explanation, according to the electro-chemical 

 theory, of each of the facts which daily enrich the theory of 

 substitutions, and when we are able to appreciate the high ta- 

 lent he displays in the combination of the formulas which his 

 theory requires ? 



It was not necessary to say to M. Berzelius, that in the views 

 of electro-chemistry the nature of elementary particles should 

 determine the fundamental properties of bodies, whilst in the 

 theory of substitutions it is from the situation of these particles 

 that the properties are especially derived. 



We have, however, on this head decisive facts in the domain 

 of mineral chemistry itself. Thus oxygen, sulphur, selenium, 

 tellurium, chromium, iron, manganese, magnesium, and hydro- 

 gen constitute a series of bodies capable of taking each other's 

 places, without the form or essential properties of the com- 

 pounds being changed by it. Thus M. Berzelius attributes 

 to the nature of the elements the function {role) which I attri- 

 bute to their position : this is the ground of our respective 

 opinions : let us now come to the point where they separate in 

 practice. 



Amongst the consequences of the electro-chemical theory, 

 one of the most immediate consists in the necessity of viewing 

 all chemical compounds as binary bodies. We must al- 

 ways find in each of them the positive particle and the nega- 

 tive particle, or the whole of the particles to which these two 

 functions are attributed. Never was view more capable of 

 shackling the progress of organic chemistry. All the diffi- 

 culties which we have felt for some years in the inquiry con- 

 cerning the fundamental formulae of bodies, the discussions, 

 the misconceptions, the errors, spring from prepossessions 

 which this view had given rise to in our minds. 



